No Nothing
by Kimali Lautoka
Summary: Spike and the gang succesfully capture their bounty. But instead of seeing her as just another outlaw, Spike finds her to be someone who shares a similar past, and drives him crazy but in a good way, of course. SxOC.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer:  _Cowboy Bebop _isn't mine (though you have no idea how much I wish it was!!!!!!!!!!!)

Here are my reasons for creating a new character. First, I hate Julia. Hate her with a passion. In fact, you might be so lucky to see her killed, my way, with the help of Cullyn (oooh, she's gonna suffer!) Second, I just can't do a Spike/Faye fic. They seem more like siblings than lovers to me. And third, it's fun!

**No Nothing**

_Chapter 1_

The year was 2071, and the _BeBop_ was drifting over a vicinity known as the Gates. Faye was seated on the couch, complaining about anything that crossed her mind while repeatedly shuffling a deck of worn playing cards. Jet could be found at the controls, patiently waiting for any news of some new bounty while cursing Faye's grumbling under his breath. Ed and Ein were running around chaotically, as was the norm.

Spike, however, stood in his usual cloud of smoke in a chamber of the _BeBop_ only he knew about. The subject on his mind wasn't the usual bounty, Red Dragons, Vicious, or even Julia. It was something he'd lived by, and the thought often caused him great pain: a dream. This particular dream had been recurring for the past week or two, and was quite puzzling to him. Deep in thought, Spike puffed on his slowly disappearing cigarette as the memories flooded his mind. The small, dimly lit alley, cold metal of the gun in his hand, and a book at his feet. _Daze_, to be specific. And then the scared voice from the shadows asking, 'How do you escape this?'

"Still dwelling on the past?" a voice from the doorway asked. Slowly turning, Spike caught sight of Jet, leaning against the frame.

"Not this time," Spike said, stomping out his cigarette. "How're things out there?"

With a derisive grin, Jet answered, "No new prey, Faye's bitching about something or another, and Ed and Ein are running around like lunatics. In other words, the usual."

"Wonderful," Spike said sarcastically. Then, with an accusing eye, he rounded on Jet. "How'd you find me? I thought you didn't know about this place."

"I didn't, until about five minutes ago. Honestly, you can't expect to hide from people when you're smoking those things," Jet said, gesturing towards the cigarette Spike had readily placed behind his ear. 

Pulling the fag from its holding place, Spike lit it and said, "Damn." Just then, Ein came dashing into the room and tripped over a slight overhang, causing him to tumble. Not able to regain his posture, the dog rolled head-on into the wall next to Spike's legs. "Sometimes I wonder if this dog's really as smart as he's cracked up to be," Spike said, just as Ed came in and repeated the process. "I stand corrected." With that, Spike left the room and its recent occupants.

Outside, things weren't much better. Simply put, Faye's whimpering had gotten to the point of aggravation. "Spike, what're we supposed to do around here? There's nobody out there for us to catch, nothing to do around here, I'm starving, and nobody will play Poker with me! This is pointless!"

"Faye," Spike said in a casual tone, "shut up." At these words, Faye got up and stormed off in a huff. "Honestly, I don't know _why_ we put up with her." 

As if in answer, the communication controls started to go off in alert. Jet didn't need calling, since he was there almost instantly. "Finally," he said in relief. Flipping a switch, the image of the two usual hosts of _Big Shot_ appeared on the screen. The image was broken and the sound was non-existent, but they could gather enough from the picture to see the name of their new benefaction. "Hey Ed," Jet said while trying to restore the image, "What can you find about Jenni Nox?"

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, Ed will find out for you!" Ed exclaimed as she plopped down in front her ultimate hacking device, Tomato.

Faye stood next to Ed, looking over her shoulder at the first glimpses of their legacy. A virtual 'Wanted' poster showed up on the screen, along with some tidbits of information. "She's pretty," Faye commented, somewhat bitterly.

Spike and Jet rushed over, much faster than normal, at Faye's statement. To his subliminal glee, Spike found that Faye wasn't lying. Jenni Nox appeared as a young woman of twenty-four years. Her straight elbow-length bluish-black hair, pale skin, blood red pout, and black eyes accentuated her mystique. The black Fedora hat, common of criminals many years past, sat jauntily atop her head, and her expression was one of melancholy.

"And she's worth nine-million woolongs," Jet noted with interest. 

Spike stepped away from the penetrating gaze of their objective. "What's she wanted for," he asked, more a comment than a question.

"Lookie here . . . she's been a baaaaaaaaaad girl," Ed said while shaking her head and pulling up some more detailed information pertaining to Miss Nox. "She's a genius hacker, big time dealer of Fairy Sprinkles -"

"Er, 'Fairy Sprinkles'?" Faye asked in confusion.

Turning around, Spike tapped the ash of his cigarette into a nearby ashtray and said, "A very popular drug among the underground syndicates, and also very expensive. Gives the user a sort of euphoric high like they're in a fantasy world, and they're supposed to see fairies.  Also used as a poison for their enemies, when taken in large quantities."

"Righty-o!" Ed exclaimed as she switched her attention back to Tomato. "Our new 'friend' belongs to a group called the Black Cobras, sits pretty high in command, and wrote a book called _Daze_ around seven years ago." Spike jumped a bit at the mention of the book, but managed to quickly conceal this. After a pause, Ed asked, "Er, who're the Black Cobras?"

Jet shook his head. "Never heard of them."

Everybody automatically turned to face Spike. In mid stride, he stopped to look at his co-hunters. "Why're you looking at me?! The answer's sitting right in front of you." Although he knew all too well who they were, Spike wasn't in the mood to dwell on his past connections.

"Oh! Right you are, Spike," Ed said as she spun back around to face Tomato. Madly typing into the computer, she said, "This might take a while . . ."

Jet and Faye wandered off to their own devices and left Ed and Ein sitting at Tomato.

Staring out one of the many windows of the _BeBop_, Spike let his mind wander once again. However, his state of solitude didn't last long. "What's got your mind going?" a voice Spike immediately recognized as Jet's asked.

"Let's just say I'm starting to take in some of that dream stuff you're always going on about," Spike said, his brow furrowed in thought.

Jet was in slight shock. "Since when have you started listening to my dream babble?"

With an implausible grin, Spike said, "I always have. I just never let you know."

"Whatever you say," Jet said airily as he walked away.

Spike stood gazing out into space for a while longer before joining Ed and Ein. "Find anything on the Black Cobras yet?"

Excitedly, Ed replied, "Yes, yes, yes! Come take a looksie!" Moving aside to make room for Spike, Ed pulled up a screen on Tomato and stood to the side.

"Hmmmmm . . . a powerful yet secret crime syndicate on Mars . . . holds on to the ideals and memories of old Earth . . . Name taken from a prevalent coalition of the once prosperous city of London, England, before the Gates Incident. Nothing new there." Spike was about to leave, when the haunting memory of his dreams and their strange connection to the object of his monetary desire flooded him. Spike called Ed over to him. "Do you think you could find something regarding her whereabouts?"

Grinning, Ed said, "Ed can get into any information database with Ed's dear Tomato, as long as it's hooked up to the Internet!" With that, Ed set to work retrieving their much-needed data. As soon as he'd stood up, Ed yelled, "Spike-person, wait! Ed got what you wanted! Yes, Ed succeeded!"

"Great," Spike said as he leaned over Ed's shoulder to read the information. "Nox . . . Where is she . . . There! She's on Mars. But iwherei on Mars?"

Ed excitedly pointed to a global projection, where the name 'Nox' appeared right in front of their faces. "Good work once again, Ed," Spike said as he walked off to join Jet in the kitchen area. "Where's Faye?" he asked quietly.

Jet motioned over his shoulder to Faye, who was seated on the couch, flipping through frequencies. "That won't keep her busy for long, so if you're gonna go, go now."

"That's what I was thinking." Spike grabbed Faye's gun from the counter and his from the refrigerator before making to leave the room. "And if anybody asks," he said, taking out an almost full pack of cigarettes and throwing all but one in the trash, "I ran out of cigarettes."

Uncertainly, Jet asked, "Can I throw stuff away until you get back?"

"No, since I'll want those when I return." 

Spike snuck past Faye and into the hangar, where his _Swordfish II_ was kept. Nonetheless, before getting in, he 'accidentally' transferred every last drop of fuel in Faye's _Redtail_ to his own craft. 

Opening the hangar, Spike was off to Mars to find their means of payment, as well as the answer to his burning questions.

Review, please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer:  Sadly, the amazing show that is _Cowboy Bebop _isn't mine.

_Chapter 2_

The journey to Mars was quite long and uneventful, which made Spike rue his decision to leave the cigarettes on the _BeBop_. However, his thoughts kept him pretty occupied, as well as his memories.

Only moments after landing, Spike caught sight of a woman he suspected to be Jenni Nox. Nonchalantly taking a seat on a bench and applying his identification specs that doubled for him as sunglasses, he waited for her to indifferently pass him. Once she passed by, Spike examined her next to the holographic image of her in his glasses. With the only difference between the two figures being the choice of dress, Spike had correctly located Miss Nox. "Gotcha," he said with a grin.

Before Spike rose to his feet to approach her, he noticed two hunched figures lurking in the shadows, watching her. Not ready for his payment and and answers to be dragged away, Spike began to retrieve his gun from his pocket and get to his feet. However, Jenni Nox's watchers, along with herself, were further up the street from Spike than he had guessed. The two men jumped from the shadows at her, pinning the seemingly helpless woman to the ground. Spike shook his head as he ran towards the huddled mass of people.  _Some things never change,_ Spike thought to himself.

Spike should have guessed that a woman with a nine-million woolong bounty on her head wouldn't be completely helpless. In the blink of an eye, Jenni Nox was on her feet and her attackers were sprawled on the ground ten feet from where she stood. One of them, a manic gleam in his eyes, stood up and ran back towards her. Before he could so much as touch her, her foot collided with his neck in a powerful, artfully mastered kick. His neck snapped on contact with a sound like a gunshot and he lay lifelessly on the ground. His friend, who seemingly got the point, ran off in the opposite direction as she shot a bullet through his back and he fell to the ground.

Pulling herself together, she started to walk off in the same direction she was headed. However, she didn't get far since Spike was standing behind her with a gun to the back of her head. "Pleasure meeting you here, Jenni Nox," he said to her. "Too bad it won't be so pleasant for you once we get you to the ISSP."

"I guess I've been caught. Better by a bounty hunter than a cop," she said, turning to face Spike.

For a second, Spike could have sworn that his heart had skipped a beat. If it was possible, she appeared more beautiful in person than in her pictures. Her eyes were dark orbs, but the little emotion showing in them was only that that had leaked from behind their shields. Standing about one hundred-sixty-two centimeters tall, her figure was slender yet greatly curved in all the right places for a woman. 

Mentally shaking himself at the thought, Spike forced himself to remember that she was his and his friends' meal ticket, not a possible friend or love interest. "If you'll just come with me, I assure you that the room we have waiting for you is well worth your bounty."

"Exactly how much _is_ my ass worth now?" Jenni asked while complying with Spike's orders.

"A good nine-million woolongs," he said as he opened the hatch to let his captive in. Surprisingly, she didn't say a word or make any moves to escape. Nonetheless, Spike pulled out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed her next to him. Finally, his craving getting to the extreme, he asked, "You wouldn't happen to have -"

"A cigarette, perhaps?" Jenni asked with a grin. Spike nodded, and she sarcastically replied, "Sorry, fresh out. Besides, it's a nasty habit."

Grumbling to himself, Spike started up the _Swordfish II_ and headed back to the _BeBop_.

Meanwhile . . . 

"Jet, I _know_ he went to find her!" Faye screeched as she interrogated Jet as to Spike's whereabouts.

Jet just shrugged as innocently as possible and said, "I don't know what you're talking about. He just went out to pick up some stuff."

Folding her arms across her chest, Faye asked, "Then what did he go get?"

His eyes got wide at his sudden memory lapse of Spike's alibi. "He . . . erm . . . lemme think . . ."

"It really isn't any of your business," a voice from behind them said. Spinning around, the figure of Spike, leading another person, became visible. Stepping into the light, the other person was seen to be wearing a pair of black boots, white pants, a pin-striped jacket with a white shirt underneath, a black Fedora, and a pair of handcuffs. "Guys, this is Jenni Nox."

Haughtily pointing at Spike, Faye said, "See, I _told_ you! You can't tell me some bogus story and expect it to be believable when you stutter and don't know half of it!"

Blatantly ignoring Faye, Jet walked over to Spike and Jenny. "Good job, buddy. Is she armed?"

"She beat the shit out of some guy on the streets and shot another one, so I'm going to say yes," Spike said from the kitchen while rummaging through the trash in search of his earlier discarded cigarettes.

Returning to the kitchen, Jet said, "Alright then. You search her."

Spike, who was up to his armpits inside the wastebasket, jumped and smacked his head. "_What?!_" he exclaimed, extracting his head and torso. "That would be totally indecent, don't you think?"

Snorting, Jet said, "Since when have you cared about indecencies?" This earned him a scowl from Spike. "I'm not too fond of the idea of having a bunch of holes blown through me while I'm asleep," Jet said while stubbornly crossing his arms across his chest. "Besides, you caught her, so she's your responsibility until we turn her in."

"Yes, Mother," Spike retorted in his usual reply to Jet's lectures and orders. Needing to satisfy his addiction, Spike took out his lighter and a soggy cigarette. "Dammit!" he exclaimed as he chucked the pack back in the trash and sauntered out of the room.

Once Spike was safely out of the area, Ein entered and sat next to Jet's feet. Giving the dog a scrap from the meal he was preparing, Jet said, "Something's got our Spike, Ein."

Jenni was seated on the couch, still in her bindings. But since Faye, who was supposed to be watching her, had wandered off, she was all alone. A plan to at least escape from the cuffs had been formulating in her mind for a while, and she decided now would be the best time to put it into action. Reaching up to the brim of her hat, Jenni withdrew a small flat piece of metal with slightly etched edges. Easily maneuvering the piece into one of the keyholes -

"I don't think so," Spike said from behind her as he took the passé-partout from her grasp.

"Damn you," Jenni uttered with a frown as Spike pocketed the key. "Could you at least take these bracelets off for a while? You have no idea how uncomfortable these things are," she pleaded.

With a smirk, Spike said, "I thought women loved jewelry."

She stood up and started to walk around the room. "I'm not like every woman," Jenni replied as she stretched her arms over her head. The hem of her shirt and jacket came so far up as to show off much of her stomach. Spike pretended not to notice, so as to keep a cool head, however difficult it was for him. 

"You'll be out of those cuffs," Spike began, an alien blush starting to spread over his face, "as soon as I'm sure your lack of weapons won't be a threat."

She eyed him for a moment, as if checking to see if his reason was true. "Fine," she replied, reluctantly standing in the middle of the room. 

After about five minutes, which included a pile of lethal weapons all taken from their various hiding places on her body, Jenni started to make conversation. "You know, after spending a few hours with you, all I know about you is that you're tall, good-looking, and smoke."

"Well, you're just full of compliments today," Spike stated, running his hands over her back and removing another Dixon 84 pistol from underneath her jacket. "And heavily armed."

Jenni said, "No, I'm just honest. Take this for example: Grab my ass and you get the shit knocked out of you."

"Don't worry," Spike remarked. Then, with a roguish grin, he said, "Unless, of course, you give me permission."

Rolling her eyes in distaste, Jenni said, "Men. What imbeciles." After spinning around to face Spike, Jenni said, "Why don't we start with something simple. How about your name, for instance?" 

Spike removed another blade from the base of her boot before answering. "Spike."

"You look like a Spike," Jenni declared.

Raising an eyebrow, Spike said, "I guess that's a good thing." He gave her a last quick overview before mentally deciding she was clear.

Jenni started to fidget. "Are you done yet?" 

"Yep," Spike replied casually while removing his jacket and discarding it onto the sofa and collapsing on top of it in exhaustion, using it as a pillow.

"Then are you going to free me?"

"Nope."

Her eyes narrowed slightly at this. "And why not?"

Spike just remained in his previous position and said, "You called me an imbecile."

"You called me a criminal on the way here. So we're even." This got a little bit of a rise out of Spike, but not enough to compel him to release her. This just drove her to use her 'womanly charms' to get him to comply with her wish. Mind you, this wasn't Jenni's favorite way of going about things, but she figured that even if she _could_ reach one of the guns he'd missed, it wouldn't get her out of the cuffs. So she walked over and straddled Spike, sliding her hands behind his head. This startled Spike at first, but he managed to keep a sober appearance and easily got used to the situation. "Pwease, won't you rewease me?"

Without saying a word Spike took a small remote out of his pocket and pressed a large gray button in the center of it. There was a clicking noise around Jenni's wrists, and the handcuffs fell to the floor behind them. "There. Now do you want anything else?"

"Actually," she said, starting to walk off in the direction the scent of food was coming from, "I think I'll grab a drink.

Before Spike was on his feet, she was gone. Instead of getting irritated with her like he did with Faye, he just smirked and said to himself, "What the hell have I gotten myself into."

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Jet was putting the finishing touches on what was going to be a delicious meal when Jenni strolled into the kitchen and to the refrigerator. "I see Spike let you out of the shackles," Jet said, surveying her.

"Yeah, he did," she replied while withdrawing a glass-like bottle. "Smart comrade you have," Jenni said while trying to twist the bottle open. "And damn sexy, too."

"Since I'm neither female nor gay, I'll just sit here and act like I know what you're talking about," Jet declared.

Jenni smiled at him and said, "You do that." Her attempts to open the bottle weren't going so well, since she had reverted to twisting her entire body all over the place.

Jet extended his hand to her and she gratefully placed the bottle in it. At first he tried effortlessly to open it, but these attempts proved to be futile. After wrestling with it for a few minutes and still unable to get the top to budge, Jet exclaimed, "Agrh! Damn bottle!"

The bottle was quickly wrenched out of his hands by Jenni as she began pounding the neck of it against every hard surface in the room. 

Spike slid into the room next to Jet and watched this little episode with interest. "So, how armed was she?" Jet asked as she put the bottle on the floor and began stomping on the neck. He mentally noted how she and Spike went about things in such an eerily similar manner.

"Armed enough to supply a small army, and possibly some civilians," Spike uttered. 

It appeared Jenni had had enough of her little percussion ensemble, since she set the bottle down on a countertop and stepped slightly backwards. Her hand went down the front of her shirt and came back up holding onto a small revolver. Taking quick yet careful aim, Jenni shot a bullet at the bottle and managed to shatter only the cap and top rim.

Jet turned to Spike and blurted out, "I thought you cleaned her out!"

Scratching his head in wonder, Spike said, "So did I."

Ein came out from his hiding place behind Jet and timidly glanced at Jenni. Seeing the small dog, a gentle smile spread across her face and she bent down to hold her hand out to him. "I didn't know you had a dog," Jenni said, more specifically to Spike.

"First off, Ein's Jet's dog, and he tends not to like the people we take aboard," Spike said. "And second, there's still a lot you don't know about us."

"But I will," she said as Ein came over and allowed her to pet him.

"Maybe," Spike replied.

Jenni stood up and said with a grin, "Your unconscious usage of the word 'still' says that I'll eventually find out."

Lightly nudging Spike in the ribs with his elbow, Jet motioned towards Jenni, who had returned to petting Ein. "She's good."

"And wrong," Spike said while walking out the door. 

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	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer:  Not mine, _Bebop _is.  Sound like Yoda, I do.

_Chapter 3_

The _BeBop_ was silent as everyone aboard was asleep. Everyone, except for Spike.

Reclined in an armchair with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, Spike held something open in his hands that he'd hoped to never see again after high school: a book. In fact, it was a book by the name of _Daze_.

_'The world of Maria's existence had just turned upside down. The fine line between fantasy and reality had been shattered, along with her remaining shreds of sanity. Left was right, right was left, up was down, down was up. The laws of physics no longer applied in this realm of horrors. And there was her sister, lying on the floor with a hole through -'_

"What's got you up in the wee hours of the night, cowboy?" a voice from behind him asked.

Spinning his head around, Spike caught sight of Jenni standing there, her hair untidily pulled back and clothed in one of his old shirts and pair of pants. "In the middle of a good book," he replied.

This appeared to have caught Jenni's interest since she walked over and sat opposite Spike. "What's it called?"

Leaning forward, Spike held up the cover and said, "_Daze_. Ever heard of it?"

"Once or twice." A small smile crept onto her face, one which she quickly tried to hide.

"Tell me," Spike said while laying the book down on a nearby table, "does Maria's world ever turn right side up?"

"Not before it starts spinning in maddening circles," Jenni replied with a small, sad frown. Hoisting herself to her feet, Jenni walked over to Spike and placed a light kiss on his cheek. "Night." Spike didn't say a word, but he did steal a quick glance down the front of her, actually his, shirt as she bent forward.

After Jenni left the room again, Spike picked up the book and continued reading.

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"Any news on the girl yet?" a voice from a high-backed armchair asked the men standing behind it.

Shifting nervously, one of the men replied, "No, sir. She appears to have just vanished off the face of the planet."

This did not please the man in the chair. The other man stepped forward and said, "Sir, we appear to have been hacked, and there iisi a nine-million woolong bounty on her. Perhaps she was taken by some bounty hunter for their reward."

"Hmmm . . . Get Marty on the line."

"Right away, Sir," the men replied before turning and leaving the room.

The man started petting the cat that was seated on his lap. "Don't worry, Hermes," the man said with an overwhelming sadness. "She'll be back."

At that moment another man appeared on the large screen in front of the man in the chair. This man on the screen was short and stocky, with glasses and thinning blonde hair. "H-Hello, Turo," the man on the screen replied anxiously.

"Good day, Marty. Now tell me, what do you know about the disappearance of one of our emissaries?"

Nervously shifting his eyes around the room, Marty said, "N-N-Nothing. I don't know anything."

"You know how much I hate it when you lie to me, Marty," Turo said from his chair. "Why don't you tell me what you know about the nine-million woolong bounty on Jenni Nox, before I have to do a demonstration of what could be in store for you?"

Marty's eyes got wide in fright. "All I heard was s-something about the bounty. I-I-If she's been picked up, they haven't contacted us yet."

Turo let his hand hover above the connection dial before saying, "Keep your ears open for anything on her, and let me know. Otherwise, the ISSP just might find one of their officers . . . dead." His hand fell, and the connection was cut off.

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The crew aboard the _BeBop_ was seated around a blank screen in their usual states of existence: flat broke and bored out of their minds. 

Spike sat there, vacantly staring at the screen, when he noticed Jenni pull out a cigarette and attempt to light it with a battered lighter. Grinning slightly, he pulled his own out of a pocket and held it in front of her. "I thought you said it was a nasty habit."

"It is," she said, leaning over to touch the tip of the cigarette to the flame. Reclining back next to Spike, she exhaled and said, "Besides, it's tempting when you've got 'em lying all over the place."

"They'll be gone by the end of tomorrow," Jet said from his position of laying down on one of the sofas.

Nobody said anything, and Spike turned on the screen with the toe of his boot. The same corny Hillbilly music and the same Punch and Judy appeared on the screen as _Big Shot_ began. "So this is where you get all your information," Jenni said skeptically.

"Only who we're after," Faye replied, shuffling and dealing out a deck of cards.

Pushing the cards back to Faye, Spike said, "That's what we have our little hacker Radical Edward for."

"Wait a minute," Jenni said. Then, pointing to Ed she said, "_You're_ Radical Edward?!"

With a wide grin. Ed said, "Yeppers, that's me!"

"I almost lost all of my info on our database last year because of you," Jenni said with a would-be angry look if it wasn't for the corners of her mouth twitching into a smile.

Ed got an awed look on her face. "You're TauroJen, aren't you!" Jenni didn't say a word, but Ed started jumping up and down. "You're a genius! Almost every time I tried to get through to something important, you almost always had it already broken through and demolished!"

"Why thank you for the compliment, Ed," Jenni said.

Faye wasn't paying attention to Ed and Jenni's conversation. "Don't you want to play Black Jack with us, Spike?" she asked.

"I'm not in the mood to lose my last four-thousand woolongs, especially to you," Spike said, paying more attention to the screen. "Hey Jet, ever heard of Ernie Kolossi?"

This caught Jet's attention. "Hell yeah. He was one of my buddies from my days at the ISSP."

"Turns out your friend has a one million woolong bounty on him," Spike said, turning the screen to face Jet.

"What?!" Leaning forward, Jet watched the screen carefully. "I'll be damned. Stole some secret documents from Ganymede."

Faye looked at Jet and Spike. "Well? Are we gonna take it?" Both Jet and Spike nodded, while Ed started firing up Tomato. Then, pointing to Jenni, Faye said, "We'd better let the ISSP know we have her, so we can get al least one reward."

Jenni's head perked up at this. "Don't call the ISSP, please."

Jet got up and started to amble towards the controls. "Sorry, but unless we let them know -"

Pulling a pistol from down her shirt, Jenni got to her feet and held it pointed towards Jet. "Don't tell them you have me," she ordered quietly, despite the slight quiver in her voice.

"Can I ask why not?" Faye asked from behind her.

Jenni revolved around to face Faye and said, "He has someone stationed there."

"Who's 'he'?" Spike asked calmly from his original position. 

"Turo Yenrai," Jenni said. At the mention of his name, Spike slowly lifted his gaze to meet hers, which was filled with an emotion he'd seen many times before: fear. "Head of the Black Cobras. And you _will not_ contact the ISSP regarding me, because I _will not_ go back to them!"

Standing there helplessly, Jet caught Spike's gaze. "Don't tell them," Spike said with a tone of finality.

This answer wasn't good enough for Faye. "What do you mean!? We could tell them and as good as have nine-million -"

"You know, we could still turn you in for the six million you're worth," Spike said, his temper starting to flare. This got Faye to shut up, but she was still glaring daggers at Spike's back after he retreated to the shower near his chambers.

Jet shook his head and said, "Some things never change." Seating himself in front of a large communications screen, Jet called up his friend on Ganymede, Bob. "Hey there, Bob."

"What can I do for you, Jet?" Bob asked in his usual distracted manner.

"I need you to tell me what you know about Ernie Kolossi," Jet said as both Faye and Jenni came over.

Bob just flipped the page of his dirty magazine. "Stole some docs referring to the Gates Incident. From what I've heard around here, he's had some crazy idea of fixing the glitch and creating a set of gates to outside the galaxy. Something about contacting alien life."

"Do you have any idea where he is?" Although Bob usually provided pretty accurate information, his attention span was that of a two-year-old.

"He left the moon before anyone even realized he was gone. He could be anywhere," Bob said, his eyes not straying from his magazine for a second. "They didn't say this when they broadcasted the info, but if you catch him and return the documents to Ganymede in perfect condition, the reward's doubled," he said, facing Jet for the first time in their entire conversation.

"Thanks again, Bob," Jet said before turning off the communications satellite and the screen went blank.

Facing Jet, Jenni made a proposition. "If I help you guys catch this lunatic, you let me stay on here with you." Jet looked uncertain of the proposition, so Jenni told him, "I don't want any payment, as of yet."

"Hmmmm . . ." Jet said in thought. "You help us catch and turn him in, and you can stay."

"Er, isn't that how we ended up with the kid?" Faye asked.

"Aren't _you_ the one who promised her she could come aboard?" Jet asked Faye pointedly.

Faye grimaced at this and said, "Fine, I say she can stay."

Ed came running in the room with Ein at her heels and said, "She should stay! She should stay! And Edward found Kolossi!"

The group that had assembled went over to see where their latest victim was located. "He's headed for Venus," Faye noted. 

Jenni took off for the kitchen at lightning speed. Jet and Faye watched after her, asking the other the same question. "What the hell is she doing?"

Spike stepped into the room, wearing only a towel around his waist from his recent shower. "What have you found on our man Kolossi?"

"He's a complete nutcase, and he's headed for Venus," Jet said, not even turning to look at Spike. "Jenni's in the kitchen. Go make sure she's not making a bomb or something." 

"Or eating as much as Faye here," Spike said before turning around to check on Jenni.

Eyes still glued to Tomato, Jet yelled to Spike, "Put on something more than a towel before you go in there!" However, Spike either didn't hear or ignored Jet's order. "Jerk."

Standing just outside the door, Spike saw Jenni's jacket thrown carelessly on the floor as she rummaged through the refridgerator and numerous cupboards. While doing so, a song Spike had never heard came from her mouth in the most beautiful voice Spike had heard. Even more beautiful than Julia's.

_"In your eyes I see a darkness that torments you, and in your head where it dwells. I'd give you my hand if you'd reach out and grab it. Let's walk away_ _from this_ _hell_ . . . Oh, I didn't see you there. Still don't, as a matter of fact," She said, smiling and rummaging at the same time. 

"What was that song?" Spike asked, watching her maneuver around the cramped room.

"It's an old one my grandparents used to sing. Called 'In The Dark'. Popular in the early twenty-first century," she said, her movements not slowing one bit. "Got any booze around this place?"

Spike asked her vaguely, "You're not getting yourself hammered before we leave, are you?"

"No. If this guy's half as crazy as he's made out to be, my guess is we're going to have one hell of a time catching and bringing him in fully conscious. That's why I'm making a mild tranquilizer to pump him full of when we get to him," Jenni said, investigating another cabinet.

"What do you mean, 'we'?" Spike asked Jenni.

"Jet and I decided that if I helped you guys catch and turn in this guy, I get to stay on with you," Jenni said, still hunting for the ingredients. "So are you gonna help me, or do I have to tear the room apart myself?"

Stepping up behind her, Spike reached up above both of their heads and pulled out a blue bottle. Turning it so she could see _Callisto Vodka_ printed on the label, he asked, "Strong enough?"

"Perfect," she said before turning to face Spike for the first time since he'd joined her in the room. The only reason she kept breathing was her persistent self-reminders to do so. The masculine chest in front of her was carefully molded and sculpted to match his lanky frame, like the body of a martial artist. His arms were carved with long, lean muscles, emanating with strength and tenderness. His legs were the same way, supported on two large feet. She could only imagine what was hidden beneath the towel. Gaze traveling back up, her eyes met Spike's in a meaningful connection. Jenni felt her knees starting to buckle as she got lost in his chocolate-colored eyes, left one darker than the right. Something about the greenish tint of his hair and pale skin seemed to emphasize his aura of mystery and secrecy. "You have gorgeous eyes," she said to Spike, barely above a whisper.

Spike himself was experiencing something similar. The white shirt that hugged her ample curves was thin enough to partially see through, and clashed horribly with her white pants. Nevertheless, it gave her the impression of being an angel. Her blue tinted hair shimmered in the light overhead, and the slight rosy twinge on her cheeks made her ashen skin glow. For the first time, Spike saw a glimmer of vulnerability in her black coffee eyes. "I can say likewise," he said before wrapping one arm around her waist and closing the gap between them.

Jenni didn't hesitate one bit in her lips meeting Spike's halfway. She was surprised at the gentle intensity with which he kissed her, almost as if he was afraid she would vanish like an illusion. To confirm to him that she was real, Jenni began running her hands up over his bare chest.

Spike noted in amusement that she tasted like strawberries as he ran his hand through her hair, which smelled of roses. Jenni's hands traveled up the back of his neck and began to cascade through his hair, causing Spike to notice his self control deteriorating at an alarming rate.

The room seemed to spin as Jenni's legs gave way underneath her. Lucky for her, Spike's strong arm and the wall she was pressed against kept her from collapsing. 

This was the last straw for Spike. The hand that was on Jenni's back went to the front of her shirt, where it started to slowly unbutton it. Instead of protesting in the form of a powerful punch to the eye as usual, Jenni actually invited the action. This caught her unawares, as it did Spike.

"Hey! I don't know what's going on in there, but we're almost ready to take off!" Jet yelled through the door, causing Spike and Jenni to spring apart. 

Spike picked up the bottle and yelled loud enough for Jet to hear, "Dammit, where's the vodka?!" Handing it to Jenni, he looked deeply, if not a bit longingly, into her eyes before exiting the room and leaving her alone once again. Slightly flushed, she rebuttoned the top part of the front of her shirt to the third button and returned to her earlier task.

Walking off in no particular direction, Spike was stopped by the sound of Jet's slightly amused voice. "Hmm, interesting. You go in there normal in all ways, and come out smelling like a fruit basket and your face bright red."

"Watch it," Spike said, but the grin on his face betrayed him. "So when're we leaving for Venus?"

Jet glanced at his watch and said, "As soon as you get your ass in gear and the girl gets out of the kitchen. Faye's already waiting out there, and Ed's got everything computerwise good to go."

"Damn!" Spike ran out and into a room where his laundry was hanging to dry.

Jenni came through the door, holding a clear jar containing a clear liquid. "Where're you keeping my artillery?" she asked.

Eyeing her suspiciously, Jet asked, "What're you planning on doing?"

"Filling some darts with this."

Taking the jar from her hands, Jet held it at eye level and asked, "What the hell is it?"

"Tranquilizer," she said while briskly snatching it back out of his hands. "Now where are they?"

"Just give her the damn gun!" Spike yelled while running past them to the hangar, still trying to put pants, shirt, and tie on over black boxers and white wife-beater.

Jenni raised an eyebrow as she watched Spike leave them again. "Er, is he always like that?"

"No," Jet said, smirking at Jenni, "something's just got his head up in the asteroids." Retracting her gun from a small locked cabinet, he continued, "More like someone."

Paying more attention to counting her darts, Jenni nearly dropped them and glared up at Jet. "Very funny," she said before taking off for the hangar.

"It's the truth, though," Jet yelled after her as he followed her out to join the others.

Okies, song credits go to The Juliana Theory. other than that, all I have to say is REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Are these really necessary? I don't own _Bebop_. Sunrise/Bandai does/do. But I do own Jenni and Kolossi.

I know that at least two people are reading this, because one of them sent me an email asking when this takes place. I'm not quite sure of which episodes, but it takes place in place of the last, oh, three episodes, maybe? Plus some time after that. The other person: Thanx go to **Cherry Cheese Head** for my first review!!!!

Remember, if you don't review I don't get any feedback and I can't change anything you people don't like. The moral of this: REVIEW!!!!!!

_Chapter 4_

Revving up the _Swordfish II_ with a quick flick of his wrist, Spike was about to take off when he heard a whacking from the side. Opening the cockpit he caught sight of Jenni. "What're you doing here?"

"Glad to see you, too," Jenni replied sardonically. "Jet wants to deal with Kolossi, so lemme in!"

Spike glanced over at Jenni. "I don't know if both of us will fit." 

Jenni began to get slightly impatient. "It's worked before, and if you keep stalling it will take us longer to get to him, so _move_!!!" 

He moved over to the side of the pod, grumbling about what sounded like women with attitudes. Not that he minded being locked in a tight space with her for a prolonged length of time, but the idea of being ordered around by a woman, actually anybody, particularly irked Spike.

The hangar door opened to allow them out. Spike and Jenni took off first, followed by Jet and Faye. Ed and Ein appeared on their screens, giving up-to-the-second updates on their bounty. "Okies, he's just outside the gates leading to Venus, traveling pretty slow," Ed said to all of them from back on the _BeBop_. "So if you guys hurry, you can make it to him in about an hour, if he doesn't pick up speed."

"Or how about you help us out a bit, Ed," Jenni said sweetly, "by making sure he _can't_ pick up speed."

Ed looked at her, slightly puzzled. "I don't think Ed knows how to do that."

"Of course you do," Jenni said. "You can hack into their control database and stop the computers."

"Oh!" Ed momentarily disappeared from sight, and then came back with a wide grin. "Ed stopped the crazy man from going anywhere!"

Jet's voice came over the broadcasting system. "Good idea, Jenni. Spike, I guess we'll be seeing you in about an hour."

Spike wasn't going to let Jet off that easily. "Why'd you leave me with her?" he asked. "You hate taking the guys back alone."

Jet could be heard laughing on the other end. "You'll thank me later, Spike-o."

"I hate to break in," Faye said, "but we've got something else to deal with, and that something's worth a million woolongs!"

"Two million, if we get the docs back in perfect condition. And I bet you despise eavesdropping," Spike scoffed at Faye.

Faye replied, "It's too much fun to hate."

"Ditz," Spike muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Jenni to hear.

"I tend to agree," she said, still fidgeting to make room for both of them.

Spike decided to help her out a bit on this. "Come here," he said, moving forward enough for her to fit behind him.

Jenni obeyed him, all the while muttering to herself. Putting one of her legs on either side of Spike, Jenni said, "You look tense."

Grinning, Spike said, "I've got two million woolongs hanging over my head, a gorgeous woman straddling my back, and it feels like an elephant trampled on top of me a few days ago. So I guess you could say that."

Gently, Jenni laid her hands on Spike's shoulders. He tensed even more at first, but relaxed as her hands began to massage one of the afflicted areas. Her hands kneaded the skin and muscles of his shoulders, and Spike felt his eyes begin to droop. "Since when have we had a massage master with us?"

"Since Jet commanded me to come aboard with you in here," Jenni said while sliding off Spike's coat. "Honestly, that guy can get pretty intimidating."

"He's harmless. Just don't get him severely pissed," Spike counseled.

Jenni repositioned herself so she was facing Spike and started unbuttoning the front of his shirt. "That may be, but it must suck to be caught by him." Moving back around, she resumed her work on Spike's now bare shoulders.

"Hm." Spike's attention partially reverted back to space, where they were just about to enter one of the gates that would lead them to Venus.

CBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCB

An ancient, beat-up ship sat suspended in space as Spike, Jenni, Jet, and Faye approached it. Ed's signal was beginning to fade as the distance between them increased. "We're here, so what do we do now?" Faye asked.

"Easy," Jet said. "We go aboard and get him."

"Pretty obvious, don't you think, Faye?" Spike asked her mockingly.

A loud, "Hmmph" could be heard on Faye's end. "So where's the precious Jenni?" Faye asked Spike.

Spike looked behind him and saw Jenni fast asleep, curled up in the only extra space available and covered in Spike's discarded shirt and coat. "Sleeping. Why do you care?"

Jet joined their conversation. "Well go and wake up Sleeping Beauty. I'd hate to see her not hold up her end because of us."

"Growing quite fond of her, eh?" Spike asked Jet, a hint of a jeer in his voice.

"Look who's talking," Jet said with equal ridicule.

Instead of replying, Spike frowned and twisted around to face Jenni. "Hey, wake up," he said while gently shaking her shoulder.

Before Spike even knew what had hit him, he was on his back with Jenni leaning over him, hand to his throat and a dagger held wavering above his heart. Her eyes were wide with alarm, but softened at the sight of Spike's shocked face. "Sorry, old habit."

"What, murdering the nearest person?" Spike asked somewhat irritably as Jenni removed her hand and blade and he began massaging his throat.

Jenni raised an eyebrow. "I think you'd be the same way if _you_ had to worry about being bumped-off in your sleep for almost a decade."

No matter how skeptical he usually was, Spike didn't doubt this. He remembered, although he'd much rather forget, what it was like to live in fear of being killed because of a simple mistake. The frightened look in her eyes was something that couldn't even be pulled off by the greatest of actors. "Sorry."

"Forget about it," Jenni said as she gave him a sideways grin, cocked her pistol, and returned it to its secret hiding space. "You good to go?"

Spike prepared his trusted Jericho in the same manner. "Almost, but I might need my clothes back." In one swift movement Jenni swiped the blue jacket and yellowish shirt from the floor and held them out to Spike. He took them from her, quickly throwing the shirt around his shoulders and fingers flying as he buttoned it. Both articles of clothing on, Spike landed the _Swordfish II_ on the deck, entering the already open hangar. 

He got out and began helping Jenni out when Jet walked over to them from his _Hammerhead_.  Peering around him, he said, "I don't like this."

"Yeah, it was way too easy getting aboard," Spike said as his grip on his gun tightened.  "Like he's expecting us."

Faye came over and joined the group.  "Let's just go and get this done with," she said while glancing around nervously.  "I want my share as soon as possible."

Spike took this opportunity to make fun of her. "What, you scared, Faye?" he asked with a playful sneer.

Instead of her usual insult or excuse, Faye just growled at Spike and headed for the door.

"Pipe down, you two," Jet said as he followed Faye's lead.

Spike and Jenni went in last, the only ones carrying their pistols at the ready. Although she'd never been on a bounty hunt before, Jenni knew when something wasn't right. The eerie silence, how everything seemed to have been layed out for them. In fact, she was so caught up in the strangeness of the situation that she didn't notice the guy standing in a corner, gun aimed at them, until Spike stepped in front of her and put a bullet through the man's chest. "C'mon, there's bound to be others," he said, grabbing hold of her arm and both running to catch up with Jet and Faye.

"What the hell was that?" Jet asked Spike as he and Jenni joined him and Faye up ahead.

"Sniper," Spike replied cooly. "Keep an eye out for more."

Faye stared at them. "So not only do we have to worry about this guy, but his henchmen, too!?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Jenni replied casually while attempting to light a cigarette, only to have her lighter weakly spark. Spike pulled his lighter from a back pocket and ignited it in front of her. Lighting the tip, she exhaled and said, "Thanks." She offered one to Spike, which he accepted and lit. 

Jet cocked the Walther in his hands as they proceeded around the corner. They didn't meet anything along the silent corridors, until they stepped into a large double-leveled room. 

All of them stood huddled together in the room as a power surge erupted and the bright lights above them flickered to life. Spike immediately shielded his eyes and peered around the room. There was nothing out of the ordinary, until he saw a shadow in an upper corner out of the corner of his eye. He watched the shadow cock and aim its gun before yelling, "Watch out!" Jet, Faye, and Spike scrambled for the shield of a few nearby walls as the bullet ricocheted off the floor where Spike was standing only seconds before. They watched Jenni dive for the floor and rapidly somersault to the opposite wall where she landed in a crouched position and took out the guy in one fluid movement.

At once, the upper level banisters filled with men, all armed with various weapons. "Aw, shit!" Jenni cried out before the bullets started flying towards them. A fierce competition began between the crew of the _BeBop_ and these guys as each tried to eliminate the other. So far, the iBebopi was winning. The four members stood strong, while Kolossi's advocates were dropping like flies. 

Nonetheless, Jet's robotic arm was full of many holes and dents and Faye's leg was bleeding freely. These few seconds Spike spent taking in these injuries cost him a bullet to the arm, which he felt begin to gush unhindered. In retaliation he narrowed in on the guy who had shot him and put a carefully sighted bullet through his neck.

Jenni began wandering backwards to get a better view of her opponents, when she felt her back rest against someone else's. "Having any luck?" the owner asked.

"Yeah," Jenni said in reply to Spike's question. Noticing she was out of ammunition she searched her coat for another magazine, which she successfully located only after a few seconds. After it was loaded, she felt something graze across her cheek, causing her to take a sharp intake of breath. The guy who had shot her was still staring at her, that is, until she put a few rounds through his chest. "Bastard," she muttered under her breath.

The room was blood-soaked and smelled of death and gun smoke minutes later. "You all okay?" Jet asked his comrades, who either nodded or weakly replied. "Then let's nab this guy and get the hell outta here." Faye began limping through the cavity in the wall after Jet, grumbling the entire way. 

Spike and Jenni were about to leave the room when Spike revolved to face Jenni and wiped his thumb over the scrape on her cheek, brushing the blood away. "You've done this many times before," Jenni said while gesturing to all the corpses.

"Yeah," Spike replied shortly before following Jenni out the door.

The twisting hallways were dark and narrow, emanating a cold aura as they wandered through them. Often times there was a "Dammit, get off my heels!" or a "Who the hell just stopped?", but this was to be expected.

Finally, the halls ended in a well-equipped control room. At first glance it was empty, but standing with his back to them was a short, plump man with no hair atop his head. "Are the aliens here yet?" he asked whilst turning to face them. A manic gleam in his eyes flashed as he caught sight of them, one which immediately turned to confusion. "Wha- You're not the aliens. Who are you?" he asked them.

"Just a couple of bounty hunters," Jet said, directing his Walther towards the man. "Now if you'd kindly come with us, Ernie Kolossi, you'll be given a nice cell with the Ganymede police."

Kolossi picked up the machine gun next to his feet and held it towards Jet. The group spread out around him, surrounding the madman. "B- B- But the aliens! They're expecting me! If they get here and nobody else is here to greet them, all hell will break loose!" 

Unable to tolerate the constant babbling, Jenni aimed the tranquilizer gun at Kolossi and pulled the trigger. It took a few seconds, but he eventually fell to the ground in an unconscious heap, a small dart sticking out from his back.

Faye looked at her as if she were crazy. "Are you nuts?! If he dies, we don't get the bounty!"

Composedly, Jenni twirled the gun around her finger before placing it in the holster under her arm. "Don't worry. It's not strong enough to kill him, just to knock him out for a few hours."

Jet shrugged and placed a pair of handcuffs around their bounty head's wrists. He lifted the body up effortlessly and flung him over his shoulders. "Care to enlighten us about that stuff when we get back?" Jet asked as he veered towards the hangar and back through the ship.

All of them walked, or in Faye's case limped, to their starships and climbed aboard. "You able to handle him, Jet?" Spike asked over the communications system.

"Yeah, I think I can handle this one, buddy," Jet answered with a trace of sarcasm. "I should really be asking about you, though."

"Ha ha . . . no."

Taking the opportunity to harass his colleague Jet asked, "Is that a no as in 'I can't handle her' or 'Don't even go there'?"

"Take your pick," Spike said as he placed a cigarette between his lips and lit it.

Jenni swiped the box from Spike's grasp and followed suit. "I'd watch it, both of you."

"Hey, you stole my cigarettes!" Spike shouted as he tried to get the pack back.

Dodging out of his reach, Jenni exclaimed, "You owe me one!" Still, Spike persisted in reaching over to get them back. "If you don't watch it, you might grab something I'll have to shoot you for," Jenni warned as his hand barely missed her chest.

"I'll take my chances," said Spike as he navigated the _Swordfish II_ with one hand and reached for his cigarettes with the other. "Dammit, will you just give them back to me?!"

The lighter was held upright in her hand as she said, "Not a chance." Jenni flicked the lighter to ignite it. At the same time as she moved it closer to her cigarette, Spike's hand came to an unconscious stop over the flame.

"EEEEEAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" Spike whipped his hand away from her and held it in front of his face. The burn mark was raw and red, and just hurt more the longer he looked at it.

Jenni took his hand and held it in front of her. She spit on the burn, which caused Spike to give her an odd glance. "To keep it from blistering," she explained. Spike nodded and turned back to space. "You're lucky it was on the same arm as the gunshot wound," Jenni said to him.

"Why's that?" Spike asked carelessly.

"Because," Jenni said, dropping Spike's arm so it fell to his side, "I only fix one arm per person a day."

Spike exhaled and said, "Lucky me."

Tapping the ash from her cigarette, Jenni said, "You should feel lucky. And be forewarned," she said as a grin tugged at the corners of her mouth, "there's some alcohol involved."

One of his eyebrows shot upwards and a smile crossed his face. "Sounds good to me." 

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaasssse R/R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer:  I'm getting sick of these.  See previous chapters.

Much thanks go to **Cherry Cheese Head **(again), **Edward, Sam, and Kit **for their wonderful reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now . . . 

_Chapter 5_

Back aboard the sanctuary of the _BeBop_, the crew basked in the fact that they had finally caught their bounty, one that they actually intended on turning in.  Everyone, that is, except Spike and Jenni.

"Dammit, stop squirming!" Jenni scolded Spike as he writhed his arm in her grasp, inching away.

Spike eyed the bowl in her hand, which contained a paste-like purplish substance, with suspicion.  "I don't like the looks of that stuff," he said.  With a grin and a raised eyebrow, he commented, "You might just try and kill me, just so you don't have to fix my arm."

Playing along, Jenni replied, "Nah, too messy.  The others would notice you were either missing or unusually quiet after a few hours, and then they would definitely turn me in.  And besides," she said in all sincerity, "I don't _have_ to fix your arm."

This struck Spike as being a noteworthy comment.  "Then why are you?" he asked, his eyes boring into hers.

Jenni didn't blink one bit as she said, "Because I want to."  Being as brutally honest as she was, Jenni didn't bother with indirectly addressing what was on her mind.  "What the hell was that back in the kitchen?" she asked him quietly.

After a momentary pause, Spike quietly answered, "I don't know."  Both he and Jenni stared into each other's eyes with limitless intensity, as if evaluating each other's emotions.  Finally, breaking the silence that had formed between them, Spike asked her, "What do _you_ think it was?"

Shaking her head, Jenni answered, "Saying it was lust would be taking the easy way out."

"Are you so sure it _wasn't _lust?"  Somewhere inside himself, the same place where he'd experienced both love and hate in his past, Spike knew what she had said was true.  Somehow, though, the idea of feeling one of those emotions again frightened him beyond belief.

"Will you stop questioning me like that if I tell you?" she asked him, Gaze unwavering from his, Jenni responded, "Yes, I'm positive.  Everyone knows what lust is like, and that wasn't it."  Her answer, filled with immeasurable certainty, caused Spike's defenses against letting his emotions show to collide with the ground beneath his feet.  He was almost compelled to spill to Jenni exactly what he was experiencing at that moment, but Jenni did that for both of them.  "You'll probably have no idea what I'm talking about, Cowboy, but it's almost like you have some strange magnetism, drawing out every little part of my existence."  

Grinning at her openness, Spike said, "I know much better than you think."  

Ed chose that precise moment to come cartwheeling into the room.  "Toothbrush, toothbrush, shiny and red!  Vroom!  Jen-Jen, Jet-person and Faye-Faye want to talkie to you!"  Having delivered her message, Ed rolled back out of the room, singing one of her nonsense songs about plastic and peanut butter cups.

Grinning, Jenni tied the bandage at Spike's elbow.  "You're good to go," she said as she dropped his arm and let it fall to his side.  She distractedly tapped the cigarette carton sitting beside her against her hand and placed one between her lips.  "Probably wants to give me the low-down on what to do and what not to do while I'm here," she mumbled whilst searching for her lighter.  As usual, Spike came to the rescue with his lighter held in front of her.  Wordlessly she took it from him and lit the little white stick.  

Spike took the lighter from her grasp and said, "Life aboard this piece of junk is pretty easy.  Leave Jet's bonsai alone; whenever food comes, no matter how terrible, eat it, since it could be the only food for days; Ed and Ein just kinda seem to blow through the ship, so anything usually taken as strange is normal for those two."

"Why am I not surprised," Jenni commented as a screech from Faye that sounded remarkably like, "Ed, that's _my _shirt!" could be heard from outside the door.  "I'm guessing Faye's the one who causes the most problems, but nobody would dare tell her that."

Spike gave a light laugh.  "We've told her, many times.  She just never gives up."

"Trouble on Two Legs," she said in understanding.  "So tell me what you require to keep the peace aboard here?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.  

Opening the door of a nearby refrigerator, Spike withdrew two Coca-Cola cans.  "Three things," he said as he handed one of the cans to Jenni.  "No more animals, don't touch my ship, and pissing me off is a very bad idea."

Jenni cracked open the top of the can and said, "Reasonable enough.  Now you guys'll have to hear out my standards."  She caught a glimpse of Spike's unbelieving stare and said, "Don't worry, they're almost as simple as yours."

His expression softened at her remark, causing her to coyly give him a small grin, one which he returned.  As Jenni turned to leave the room, Spike saw the area on her cheek where the bullet had grazed.  The blood was still smeared on her pale skin, and the cut still pink and raw.  Before he knew what he was doing, Spike found his lips lightly pressed against the scratch.  Slowly he backed away, the lingering scent of her skin still fresh in his mind.

"Ahem."  Spike slowly turned his head to the origin of the noise, which was an amused Faye, shoulder propped against the wall.  "Am I interrupting something here?" she asked with a smirk.

Jenni just walked past both of them and airily replied, "Nothing at all, Faye."  She stalked past both of them and went to join Jet at the controls, as he'd requested.  "You wanted to talk to me?" she asked while lounging on the floor next to him.

Jet barely seemed to take notice of her as he programmed the ship's course to Ganymede.  "Just a few simple regulations," he said offhandedly.  "First," he began, "the _BeBop _is my ship.  Therefore, I have control over everything aboard here.  Second –"

"You were a cop, weren't you," Jenni inferred.  "You talk like a cop."

He glanced at the newest edition to their band of outcasts for the first time since she entered the room.  "Yeah.  I was with the ISSP back in the day," he informed her.  "Second, don't touch the bonsai," he continued, right where he left off.

Jenni took a sip from her drink.  "Lemme guess," she said, "third thing is eat whatever comes aboard, since it may be the only stuff for a loooong time.  And fourth, Ed and Ein are just plain weird."

Watching her out of the corner of his eye, Jet said, "Spike told you already, didn't he."

She slowly stood up and replied with a short "Yep."  Coming to stand so she was almost in front of Jet, Jenni delivered her marching orders to him, and unaware to the rest of the crew.  "I don't know if it's bad luck or my damn Romany blood –"

"Hey Faye," Spike said to the woman standing next to him, "we have a _real _Romany with us now."  Instead of retaliating, Faye turned her nose up at him and let her attention slip back to Jenni.  Spike followed suit by declaring, "As you were saying, my dear."

Jenni arched an eyebrow at her new partners.  "Nice of you guys to join us.  Now I don't know what it is, but I never seem to be able to stay in one place for a very long time.  However, I have a feeling I'll be here for quite a while."  Ed could be seen cheering at the delivery of this news and swinging Ein around in the air.  "While I'm here, I have a few simple guidelines to keep all hell from breaking loose."  While Jet and Faye gawked at her nerve, Spike just sat by and patiently waited to hear what these 'simple guidelines' were.  "The following actions will earn you a severe ass-kicking: waking me up before a decent time, walking in on me while I'm taking a shower, and messing with my firepower.  Other than that, I think we'll get along just fine."  With those final words she brushed past Spike and off to another part of the ship.

Faye looked about ready to burst.  "Who the hell does she think she is?!  We offer her a place to stay, and she goes and sets up –"

"I think they're reasonable requests," Jet said simply.  "Besides, she held up her end of the deal, so why not?"

Smiling at Jet, she said, "I always pull my own weight around here, so how about _I _make up some ridiculous rules?  After all, I've been here much longer than she has."

Spike downed the last of his Coke before speaking.  "You were never asked to stay, Faye.  You just showed up one day and never left.  And don't give us that bullshit about you pulling your own weight," he warned.  "You usually leave about twice as much trouble than you're worth for us to clean up."

"Well excuse the hell out of me, Mister Come-Back-In-A-Million-Pieces!" Faye yelled into Spike's face.  "Seriously, you can't even go pick up a pack of cigarettes without shooting at someone!"

"Can it, you two," Jet ordered gruffly.  "You two are so obnoxious."

Rolling his eyes at Jet, Spike said, "How many times have we heard that one . . ."  He casually threw his jacket over his shoulder and pulled a thin disk out of his pocket.  Twirling it between his fingers, Spike said, "Here.  This just upped our reward by one million," before tossing it to Jet and leaving the room.

Sauntering through a small span of the ship, Spike didn't notice the occupants until one of them spoke up.  "Sounded like _Family Feud _in there," Jenni commented from her laying-down position on the yellow couch, cigarette still jutting from her mouth.

"That's normal around here," Spike said tiredly as he picked up Jenni's feet to make room for himself on the couch.  He placed them on the ground next to them, where she promptly removed them from and placed on Spike's lap.  "Great.  I'm a footrest now, too," he remarked, a bit irritated at this recent development.

Jenni grinned at him and said, "You're multi-talented, _my dear_," stressing the last part.  Spike raised an eyebrow at her before swiftly removing the cigarette from Jenni's mouth and taking a drag from it.  In retribution, she kicked his hand so the stick went flying through the air and back towards her, where she easily caught it between her index and middle finger.

A slight commotion behind them caught their attention.  Kolossi, who had been cuffed to a pipe while in his state of unconsciousness, was starting to wake up.  "Uuugghh . . . Where am I?" he asked groggily, as if waking up from a drunken stupor.

"Where you are is not important," Spike answered shortly.  "But you're on your way to pay a visit to the Ganymede Police."

At these words, Kolossi immediately started flipping out, to put it lightly.  "_WHAT?!  _B-B-But the aliens!!!!!  I'm supposed to meet them!!!!!!  I should be just outside Venus, not on Ganymede!!!!  They're gonna get to my ship and find it empty, and then they'll destroy the entire galaxy!!!!  Do you hear me?!  All life here will _end _unless you bring me back!!! . . . "

Spike groaned and put a hand to his forehead.  "Why don't we knock him out for the rest of the way there?" he wined.

"I'm one step ahead of you," Jenni said in an equally annoyed voice.  Reaching for her holster on the table, she withdrew the tranquilizer gun from earlier and held it at an upward angle.  After taking aim, she pulled the trigger.  Kolossi's ramblings drifted to a halt as he passed out on the ground for the second time that day.  "Finally, peace and quiet."

The two sat enjoying the silence for a few minutes, until Faye's constant whine could be heard.  Spike growled at the disturbance, and then noticed that Jenni still had the gun in her hand.  Taking hold of the pistol he got up and started to walk off in the direction of Faye's presence.  "I'll be back in a few minutes, so don't get too comfortable," he mentioned to Jenni.

She sat up so she could see him walk through the door.  "What in the hell are you doing?" she asked quite innocently.

Faye's complaints reached their ears once again, causing Spike's grip on the gun to tighten.  He paused and replied, "Something I should have done a long time ago."  

Jenni just laid back down and said, "Carry on.  But hurry up; you make a good footrest."

Where this would almost always make Spike give the person who said something like that a threat of some sort, he instead found himself grinning.  _Damn, this girl messes with my head, and without meaning to, _he thought to himself.  However, the constant complaining from another part of the ship caught his interest more than his thoughts at the moment.  Gun in his hand, Spike set off to achieve the impossible: make Faye shut up for at least five minutes.

Well, what did you think??????  Ya know, you can always let me know in a review **hint, hint** 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer:  _Cowboy Bebop _= not mine.  Anything you don't recognize outside this story = mine.

Many thanks to **Cherry Cheese Head, LexiRoSe, SilverHeart, and kara**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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_Chapter 6_

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The assembly of bounty hunters traipsed through the doors separating the Ganymede Police Station from the rest of the public.  While the others pocketed their share of the reward, Jenni gingerly fingered her portion as if it might slip from her grasp at any given moment.  "I don't think I've ever held this much honestly-earned dough in my life," she said, happily placing the money deep inside a pocket.  

Faye began loftily walking off in the opposite direction.  "I'll see you guys later," she said, a bit of a mischievous nature to her voice.  "I'm off to double this chump change-"

"At the casinos," Spike, Jet, and Ed finished for her.  The only acknowledgment she gave them before disappearing was a little wave over her shoulder.  Spike shook his head while pulling out a cigarette and muttering, "More like double her debts."  His lighter barely flickered with life, using up its last breath on the cigarette overhanging from Spike's mouth.

"Edward wants caaaaaaaaaaaandy!!" their young companion yelled before taking off down the street, canine friend in tow.  

The three of them stood in the middle of the street, watching their young companion with interest.  Once her gangly form melted into the crowd, Jet began to make his way back to the ship.  "I've got some repairs to do on the _BeBop_," he explained to them.  "Catch you guys later!"

Taking in her surroundings, Jenni quickly calculated her actions for the afternoon.  "C'mon," she said to Spike before grabbing hold of his wrist and dragging him after her down the somewhat busy street.  "You're not doing anything, so you get to come with me."

Spike tried stalling his most recent captor.  "Exactly where are you going?" he asked, uncertain if he really wanted to know.

A grin that plainly spelled out 'agony' for the person on the receiving end spread across her face as she said, "_We _are going shopping."

"_WHAT!?_" Spike yelled so loud that many passers-by looked at him in surprise.  He wrenched his wrist from her slack grip and stood rooted to the spot.  Jenni, however, was unfazed.  "_Where_ the hell do you think you're taking me?!" he questioned in an incredulous tone.  "This is bullshit, I'm not some sort of -"

Jenni rolled her eyes in a fashion that said she was expecting this kind of reaction.  "Yes, Spike, I'm taking you shopping with me."  He was about to protest once again, when she gave him a glare that would make the Grim Reaper cower in fear.  "Don't give me that shit about you having something better to do, because I know you would have gone and started it already.  I'm sick of sitting around in your old stuff while the same thing I've been wearing for the past week is washing, and it's _your _fault I don't have any clothes to begin with!" she hissed at him in something close to aggravation.  

"How do you figure this is my fault?" Spike asked in a tone very similar to Jenni's.

"Uh, hello?  Weren't _you _the one who dragged me off Mars without any warning whatsoever?"

"Well excuse me for not letting you know when I was going to pick you up for your nine-million woolong bounty!"

"You didn't have to go after my bounty to begin with!"

"Gah, you're as bad as Faye!!"

"And you're a stubborn jackass with nothing better to do!  Now come on!!"  As she calmed down a bit, both of their stomachs gave a loud rumble.  "But first," she said, "some food and a lighter."

Scratching his head with the heel of his hand, Spike grinned at her and said, "You're screaming at me one second, and offering me food the next.  You never cease to amaze, do you?"

"Nope," she said while pressing the end of the cigarette in her mouth to the lit one in his.  The glow muted itself for a second, but then became brighter than before at the ignition of a second cigarette.  "And, as you know, my bounty isn't exactly cleared yet," she said as they began their journey down one of the streets.  

Spike removed his jacket and slung it over his left shoulder while turning to address Jenni on his left.  "So you want me to play bodyguard too, huh?"

Batting her eyes in an obviously forced performance, Jenni said, "If you don't mind."  She reverted back to her normal self immediately, to both her and Spike's relief.  "You don't want some crazy bounty hunter to try and drag me off to the ISSP, do you?"

"No, I don't mind, because _I _don't want to see the poor sap's medical bill after you've finished with him," he said before taking an extensive drag from his cigarette and placing his free hand in his pocket, shoulders slumped in his usual stance.

"Then I take it you're coming?"

Tilting his head back so he was looking at the sky, Spike exhaled the stream of smoke and wearily said, "Let's just get this over with."  Jenni looped her arm with Spike's and led, or more appropriately dragged, him off for what was to be a day of absolute hell.

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"Ah!  Sir, would you mind _not _smoking in here?  It could ruin the fabrics!" an overzealous salesclerk told Spike the moment he stepped in the shop with a cigarette still protruding from his frowned lips.  This was the third time he had been asked not to do so in the past two hours, and he was becoming quite sick of it.  To appease the seller, Spike irritably smothered the freshly lit cigarette beneath one of his clunky boots while uttering a string of profanities.  His actions earned him a strangled "Eek!" from the shop assistant as he fell to his knees to sweep up the ash from the carpet, all the while glaring warningly in Spike's direction.

Jenni poked her head around a corner to see the little episode at the door.  "Hey, Señor Destruction!  Come here for a sec!" she yelled across the store to him.

Sulking over to her, Spike watched his partner jump and stretch for something located on a shelf way above her reach.  While her pursuit for the overhead object continued, the hem of her shirt and jacket inched up farther and farther.  Spike noticed, since his attempts not to were failing miserably, that a large mark had somehow in the past found its way onto her lower back.  The longer he watched the more of that mark revealed itself, and was starting to take shape near the bottom.  Scales soon became distinguishable, and that was all Spike needed to see.  He came up right behind Jenni and whispered in her ear, "So what's that on your back?"

She jumped at the sound of Spike's whisper, but immediately froze as what he just said registered in her mind.  "N-Nothing, it's nothing," she stammered while pulling her clothing down over her back.  "Now why don't you grab that up there," Jenni said to Spike while gesturing towards what she had been reaching for, almost as if the past few seconds had never happened.

Easily, Spike grasped the object and held it out for Jenni.  She quickly took it and shook out the black wad to reveal an overly large sweater.  Jenni promptly threw it back onto the shelf and continued looking around until she came face-to-face with the barrel of a gun.

"I've got you now!" a raspy voice from behind the gun said triumphantly.  The owner of both the weapon and the voice was a graying middle-aged man who barely reached up to Jenni's shoulders.  The pistol shook lightly in his hand, but his leering smirk remained.  "You're nine-million woolong bounty is mine!"  Brandishing a pair of handcuffs at her, the older bounty hunter said, "Once I get you in these, it's off to the ISSP we go!"

She backed up until she was leaning against Spike and said, "I'd really rather go with him.  He was much nicer about it, you know."  

Her not-quite captor looked slightly baffled at this remark.  "Much nicer about what?"

"About taking me to the cops," Jenni said pleasantly.  "He was polite, didn't force me to do anything -"

A few angry gunshots were fired into the ceiling, inducing the clerk at the door to pass out.  "GODDAMMIT!!  YOU'RE _MY_ BOUNTY, AND I SAY _MOVE_!!!!!!" the now red-faced hunter yelled at Jenni.

Spike, who hadn't said a word during this little confrontation, finally said, "Plaster."

The bounty hunter gave Spike a look that blatantly said 'clueless', and even gave a stupefied "Huh?" to go with it.  "What was that, Skinny?"

The name only made Spike smile.  He'd wanted something to bash that guy over the head since the moment he stuck that damn gun in Jenni's face, and the name he'd heard so many times in the past just made the desire increase.  Finally, his wish was about to come true.  Pointing up to the ceiling, Spike repeated himself.  "Plaster."

Jenni's attempted hijacker followed Spike's finger with his eyes until they landed on the section of plaster ceiling above his head that was crumbling away due to the recent gunshots to it.  Holding his hands over his head in a feeble attempt to protect himself from the falling debris, the hunter let out a small yelp before the ceiling came crashing down overtop him.  

Spike and Jenni seized this opportunity to make a mad dash for the door.  Vaulting over the salesclerk passed out in front of the door, Jenni led Spike back onto the main street.  "I told you some other bounty hunter would try and take me in," Jenni said while they calmly ambled down the mostly deserted lane.

"I don't doubt it; nine-million woolongs is a lot of money," Spike said as he lit a cigarette to satisfy his addiction.  Placing the shiny new lighter back in his pocket, Spike's attention strayed to two men clad in professional-looking suits and dark shades.  One casually glanced towards Jenni, and had to do a double take.  He elbowed his partner in the ribs and pointed straight at her, causing the other man to stop dead in his tracks.  After a curt nod to each other and the two men briskly made their way towards Jenni and Spike.  "They friends of yours?"  Spike asked his compadre with ease.

"You could say that," she said while brightly smiling at the approaching figures.  "What a pleasant surprise, Wade, Don," she said to them in a friendly tone.  "Can I help you guys?"

Don stepped forward and said to Jenni, "Turo has had us looking all over the galaxy for you, Miss Nox."  He pulled a small handgun from inside his suit jacket and held it pointed towards Spike.  "Once we kill and dispose of your captor, you will join us on our trip back to Tharsis City."

Placing her hand on the barrel, Jenni lowered the gun and said to them in an authoritative voice, "Sorry, guys.  Tell Turo I send my regards, but there's been a slight change of plans."

The other man, Wade, took a step forward.  "Jenni, you are a crucial asset to the order of the Black Cobras –"  His speech was cut short by a swift flying kick to the side of the head, a kick that carried through to his partner.  Both men fell to the ground, unconscious.

Jenni stood up straight and began twirling one of the fallen men's pistols.  "Never did like those two much."  They continued their trek down the street until a car stopped abruptly in front of them.  It was a black sedan with a gold design embossed on the rear doors.  Upon closer inspection, the design proved to be a cobra enclosed in a border of thorns.  "SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!"  Jenni grabbed Spike's arm as the rear door swung open and dashed as fast as humanly possible in the opposite direction.  Gunshots echoed off the building walls, and one ricocheted off a brick and singed the top of Spike's hair.

Although his hair was the least of Spike's worries right now, that bullet had come close to turning the lights off for him.  Too close.  Gun in hand, he blindly shot a few rounds behind him.  He hit one guy, but didn't turn to see who or where.

Dodging behind an old broken-down cruiser, Spike and Jenni each took their turns at shooting off a round of shells at their syndicate nemesis.  Every now and then they could hear the sickening cry of agony as one of their bullets entered one of the syndicate members, or the razor-sharp _whoosh _as an opposing bullet missed their heads by a few mere centimeters.

A car door slammed shut as the sound of an automobile drifted through the noise of gunfire.  Peering around them, the partners-in-crime surveyed the damage they had caused in that narrow street.  Seven.  Seven people lying on the pavement, either dead or clinging on to dear life.  Both of them stared in masked horror at the cold reminder of what they once were, and in some ways still are.  "C'mon, let's head back," Jenni said while stooping to pick up the miraculously intact bags.  "I don't know about you, but I need a drink."

Spike offered her a cigarette, which she gratefully accepted, and lit one for himself.  "You read my mind."

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The overturned bottles and empty glasses littered the room like fallen soldiers in battle.  Considering how much he had drank, Spike found himself balancing pretty well on the line between sober and drunkenness.  Jenni, on the other hand, having consumed almost three times the amount Spike had, was pretty . . . unstable at the moment.

Spike watched the woman grope for a sturdy surface to sit or possibly lay on.  She found the table in front of him on the couch quite suitable for that purpose.  "Are you okay?" he asked uncertainly as she began to lean threateningly far to one side

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said before nearly toppling off.  Jenni somehow managed to regain enough posture to state the painfully obvious.  "Who the fuck am I trying to kid.  I'm trashed beyond belief."  She then spread her legs apart and rested her hands on the tabletop between them.  Leaning forward, her shirt, which was actually Spike's, began to fall suggestively far down both in front of her and off her shoulder.  "What, you gonna try and take advantage of me now?"

He sure as hell wanted to at that particular moment in time, but something in his head told him not to.  Damn conscience.  "No, I'm not."

Jenni sprawled out over the table, knocking a few bottles onto the floor.  Drawing an invisible picture in the air with her finger, she said, "Most men would.  Most men are sex-crazed maladroits."

This comment struck Spike as surprising.  Embarrassingly true, but surprising all the same.  "Must not have met many decent men," Spike said as he lit up a cigarette.

What began as a small giggle erupted into a raucous laugh from Jenni as she recalled the answer to Spike's inquiry.  "No, I guess I haven't.  Lemme see . . . there were my dad and my brother, but they don't count.  Um . . ." she said before temporarily dozing off for a few seconds.  Waking up, she immediately picked up their conversation right where she left off.  "Nik was a good guy, but I haven't seen him in years."  Jenni's head flopped over to smile at Spike and she finished off with, "And you're not so bad, either."

Although the comment caused Spike to smile, it was a sad smile.  She had no idea what kind of a monster he had been in the past.  The syndicate did that to people, most people.  There were the few who either shed their malicious blood after escaping, and those who somehow managed to evade the horrors altogether.  He, however, didn't believe he was one of these lucky people.  Handing Jenni his cigarette, Spike debated, "How do you know for sure?  You've only known me for a little over a week.  I could be a con artist, or a gangster.  Or a murderer."  The last bit he added was full of regret, for both the past he'd hoped to never remember and yet the parts he hoped to never forget. 

Deeply inhaling, Jenni replied, "I dunno.  There's just something about you that says you're a good person.  It sure as hell doesn't scream 'Innocent' or 'Do-Gooder'.  In fact, quite the opposite.  But underneath all the protective armor you're wearing against everything on the outside, jaded as you may appear at first, there's someone beautiful.  "  She exhaled a stream of smoke into the air and continued.  "There's also this sadness about you.  Something happened in your past to scar you through your entire being."  There was a long pause between them until Jenni sat up and asked, "Do you wanna hear the sad story I call my past?"

Spike sat up and took back the cigarette offered to him.  "Yeah, I do."

Sitting up as straight as she could in her present state, Jenni began the lamenting story of her life.  "I was born in space, on my family's ship, the _Trilogy_.  It was built out of three different crafts, so no two areas were the same.  We lived there for seven years.  Just me, my mom and dad, and my brother Jimmi, who was five years older than me."  A smile had graced her face at the memory of her family.  "All four of us were so stubborn and persistent, I'm surprised we didn't kill each other.  Yep, those were the happy days, when nothing ever went wrong."  The smile fell into a sad frown as she continued.  "They were too good to last.

"My dad wanted to settle down somewhere, to have a 'real home' for his wife and kids.  None of us really wanted to, but I guess something told him it was for the best.  So that's how we ended up on Venus, in the middle of a city called Sentor."  There was a pause as she picked up the glass next to her and finished off the amber liquid.  "My mother died of Venus Sickness when I was nine, and my father followed a few months later, this time of a broken heart.  Kinda romantic, if you think about it," she said with more than a hint of nostalgia.

"I didn't know what we were going to do.  Two kids living on the streets of a city on Venus isn't exactly the best situation to be in.  But clever Jimmi, he came to the rescue.  He'd been talking to this net-diver on Earth since Mom started getting sick.  This guy, Nikolai, was only fifteen when Jimmi met him, but he had a place on Earth.  Nik was nice enough to offer for us to stay with him, rent-free.  We took him up on his offer, of course, and snuck aboard an Earth-bound jetliner the next afternoon.

"I'll tell you, firsthand:  Earth is the biggest hellhole in the entire galaxy.  Meteor showers every day, everywhere is pretty much run into the ground, and it's each person for themselves.  Family systems are a thing of the past," she said, waving her hand in the air.  "Good thing Nik was there for us.  But still, even though he was like family, we weren't a family."

This time, not bothering with a glass, Jenni grabbed the entire bottle by the neck and held it in front of her lips.  "Six years passed, and in that time I'd managed to learn all the hacking techniques that took Nik his whole life to master."  She took a swig from the foul-smelling bottle and continued.  "That still didn't make up for the fact that Jimmi was never around, and we had no idea where he was.  But it wasn't long until I found out where my brother always disappeared to; I still wish I never knew.

"One night, in the middle of December, Nik and I were just sitting around when these two really big guys in suits stormed into our shack.  Nik told me to get the hell out of there while he tried to stop them.  Of course, what kind of chance did some spindly little guy have against five-hundred pounds of force.  They easily whacked him out of the way, grabbed me, and knocked me unconscious.  Next thing I know, I'm in the backseat of some car on Mars.  Once those goons noticed I was awake, one of them pulled open the door and wrenched me out.  Although I tried at numerous points in that short period of time, I didn't stand a fighting chance at escaping.  They just kept dragging me down that alley, not saying a word.  It seemed like it lasted forever, but once we got to the end it didn't seem long enough.

"There was just one overhead lamp in the courtyard.  In the middle of it was Jimmi, either dead or unconscious.  From somewhere outside the circle of light this man entered.  He was a short, balding Chinese guy with a cold, bitter expression.  He walked up to my brother and, with no warning at all, kicked him in the stomach.  'Idiot boy,' he said.  'You were supposed to _quietly _go in and get the money.  _NOT _leave the place in rubble!' he shouted before kicking him again.  Jimmi just groaned in pain on the ground, while this man, Turo, turned to face me.  'Lucky for you, I think your sister's talents in net-diving will cover your mistakes this time,' he said.  Addressing me, he said, 'How would you like to join our little group, the Black Cobras?'  The only response he got from me was a giant lugie in the face."

Spike laughed inwardly, so as not to disturb her.  Jenni didn't notice, and continued on with her tale.  "I already hated that man, and he must have known it.  'Allow me to rephrase that,' he said.  'Join us or you both die.'  Jimmi was weakly screaming for me to say no, but that just made me more flustered, and somebody help me I said yes.  Turo just smiled that cruel smile of his before turning and walking away from me.  

"Those same guys that dragged me there dragged me back out onto the street.  But before we even got close, I heard Jimmi yell something at Turo.  Something about how this guy Mao not being merciless enough to kidnap a teenager and drag her into this hell.  Turo got this look in his eyes, even colder than the one he gave me.  'I know no Mao,' he said.  And you know what he did, Spike?"  Spike shook his head as if saying 'No.'  Jenni stood up and shaped her hand like a gun.  Touching the tip of her index finger to Spike's forehead, she said one simple word.  "Bang."  

Her solemn expression didn't change as she removed her finger, except for the tears starting to make their way down her cheeks.  "After that tyrant put his fucking pistol to my brother's forehead, I watched him pull the trigger.  I watched the bullet go all the way through Jimmi's head, and I watched him fall, lifelessly, into a pool of his own blood."

Jenni, strong, capable, defiant Jenni, broke down completely into Spike's lap.  He had always been very uneasy around women when they got emotional to the point of tears; like most men, he would rather be thrown into a deep pit with a half-starved lion.  Oddly enough, he found it very easy to wrap his arms around her shaking figure and hold her to him.  Gently, he rocked her back and forth in his arms, stroking her hair and whispering words of comfort into her ear.  Looking up at him, eyes tear-soaked and red, Jenni whispered, "How do you escape this?"

No matter how intoxicated he was, Spike's jaw dropped in shock and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.  Parts of his dream came flooding back to him.  The book, the alley, the question; they all clicked together and pointed straight at Jenni.  He was about to tell her of this recent revelation, but she had quietly fallen asleep in his arms.  "You'll find a way," he said before closing his eyes and drifting off to nothingness.

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His head had stopped pounding earlier that day, which gave Spike enough peace of mind to light a cigarette.  Before he had time to dwell on what he'd heard two nights before, Jenni ambled into the room, looking much worse for wear.  "Yo," Spike greeted while holding a glass out to her.

"Ugh, exactly how much did I drink last night?" Jenni asked, glaring at the Prairie Oyster in her hand.

"You mean two nights ago.  Let me see . . . I drank enough to stop a crazed rhinoceros in its tracks."  Seeing the questioning stare he was receiving from Jenni, Spike continued.  "_You_ drank about three times that amount."

Groaning, Jenni slid down the wall she was leaning against.  "Bottoms up," she said before holding her nose and draining the contents of the glass, just like she did only a while ago.  "So, how bad was I?"

Spike wouldn't meet her eyes as he said, "You told me your life story."

If she was still drinking that dreadful Prairie Oyster, Jenni would have most likely choked to death.  "I didn't," she said, wide-eyed in horror and disbelief.  "Please tell me I didn't."

Spike just nodded.  Catching her eye, he smirked before saying, "Other than that, you were the most level-headed drunk I've ever met."

For all you kind souls out there (Come on I know _some _of you are!!!!), please drop me a line via REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer:  I do not own _Cowboy Bebop_.  In fact, I don't own anything, except for my little keychain of Vash the Stampede (courtesy of Exilca Yuy).

Well, my summer vacation has pretty much been anything _but _a vacation.  I've had barely any time to work on this chapter, and when I finally do, we get the Blackout.  Not to mention a horrendous writer's block.  Someone up there really doesn't want me to finish this.

Many thanks go to **Spi-Spi3,** **Layla, Crazy Rikku, **and **InuYasha'sgirl **!!!!!

And to _critic attack_ and _Sidekick-Attacker_: Your kind (major bullshitting here) criticism is greatly appreciated.  Fuck you very much.  And since you either do not have the talent or intelligence to write and post something of your own, I am sorry to say I cannot return the favor.

Ya know, I honestly expected people to be a bit smarter.  Meaning:  If it sucks so much that it's painful to read, don't sit through and read all 16,200 words of it just to tell me it's terrible.  Move on to a different fic, or write one of your own if you can't find something you like.  Duh!! 

And a special thanx goes out to **Yuyi **and** Swimming Bird**.  Thank you soooo-ooo-ooo incredibly much!  Although I am going to continue this, despite the opinions of some Mary Sues, you guys just made it seem more worthwhile.  Rock on!!

Okay, end of ramblings.

_Chapter 7_

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Activity aboard the _BeBop _was pretty minimal, as it had been for the past month and-a-half.  A few petty thieves joined them aboard for a short time here and there, along with a few bigger crooks.  Other than that, things were slow to the point of sluggish.

The door to the hangar slid open to allow Spike to enter, looking grumpier than usual.  He continued to wipe the oil from his hands onto the stained work shirt he wore as he joined his fellow comrades on the old yellow couch.  "Yo," Spike greeted, pulling a cigarette from the carton next to him and lighting it with the lighter in his pocket.

Faye glanced at him from over the top of her fashion magazine.  "Have fun tinkering with that piece of junk you call a ship?"  Spike glared at her and turned his head slightly to the side to exhale.  Seeing the beginning of a few welts on his neck, Faye asked Spike, "What the hell happened to your neck?"

At the mention of this, Spike directed an icy glare towards Ed, who was hiding behind the worn yellow chair Faye was in.  "The kid started to pelt bolts and screws at me for no damn reason."

A tiny voice from behind Faye said, "Ed thought it was funny."

Spike, apparently, did not find this funny.  At all.  "You little . . . Come here kid!" he yelled as he shot up from his place on the couch and vaulted over Faye.  Ed let out a high-pitched squeak of a scream before taking off, just barely missing Spike's flying figure.  They continued this game of cat-and-mouse for nearly ten minutes, until Spike finally grabbed hold of Ed's ankle while she climbed up the staircase.  "Gotcha!" he yelled in triumph before putting her in a full nelson.  "Now why the hell was it so funny?" he asked the squirming child. 

"Because . . . Because . . . " Ed said before slithering through his grasp and taking off out of sight.  

Defeated, Spike collapsed between Jet, who was pruning his bonsai, and Jenni, who was emphatically typing on Edward's Tomato.  "Just let her go," Jenni said distractedly, eyes glued to the screen.  Spike wished they were glued on him.  After what appeared to be another failed search, she leaned backwards and arched her back over the couch.  "Damn," she sighed while stretching her arms over her head.   Without warning, the woman hoisted her weight forward onto her feet and stalked off to the upper level.

Faye closed her magazine and got to her feet, also.  "You people are boring," she said before turning to leave.  "I think I'm going to go take a shower."  If this was supposed to get a rise out of her colleagues, Faye must have been greatly disappointed by their lack of emotion.  In the end she chose not to bother with them and disappeared into the shadows of the _BeBop_.  

The silence between the two men went unnoticed for a lengthy period of time, in which neither of them stirred.  Finally, it was broken by a question from one of them.  "Tell me, Jet," Spike began, his eyes still locked on the nothingness in front of him, "How do we keep adding to our numbers aboard this hulk?"

"Well," Jet began as he put his shears on the table in order to light a cigarette, "You just kinda showed up here.  The dog was brought back here by you."  Spike cringed at this reminder, but Jet ignored him and continued on.  "The first girl was kind of like a parasite; showed up one day and never left.  The kid was promised something by Faye and literally brought us down to her.  And the new girl made a deal, which none of us refused.  Happy?"

Spike lit the fresh cigarette he held between his lips while mulling over what Jet had just said in his mind.  He was about to inquire on this topic further when a totally different thought he'd pushed to the back of his mind pulled itself back to the front and knocked all other musings out of the way.  "Hypothetically speaking," Spike began, "What do you suppose it means to dream about someone before you even know they exist?"

Jet looked up sharply and delivered a quizzical glimpse to his partner.  Then, with a knowing smirk, he questioned, "This wouldn't have anything to do with Jenni, now would it?"  

A thin stream of smoke was forced from Spike's lungs as he kept steady eye contact with Jet, saying nothing yet more in that simple gesture than words ever could.  "I said hypothetically, Jet."

Triumphantly, Jet said, "See, I told you, remember?  I told you a long time ago."

"What, don't eat the bonsai, they're not broccoli?" Spike asked with an arched eyebrow.

Slightly disgruntled at his partner's feigned ignorance, Jet informed him, "No, but don't forget that.  Listen to your dreams, that's how you find your dream girl."

"Oh yeah," Spike said as he glanced upwards, recalling that particular quote.  With a nasal laugh, he said, "I don't think that'll be happening any time soon."  Stretching his lanky form skyward, Spike stood up and said, "Besides, she's just another woman with an attitude, another tomboy that'll be more trouble than she's worth."

As Spike turned to leave, Jet's smirk became evident in his voice.  "But this one's different.  I know it, and I know you do, too.  Besides, you said you liked that kind of thing."  Spike stopped to listen, turning his head around to face Jet.  True, Jet was right, but Spike wanted to hear how well his partner thought he knew him.  "Let me see, how did you put it . . . You like 'women who aren't usually feminine, but show it in some chance circumstance.'"

Spike glared at Jet, knowing his partner had hit dead center.  "Dammit," he said before leaving the room, allowing Jet to return to the care of his trees.

Aimlessly wandering the halls of the _BeBop _appeared to be a useless way to spend his time.  That is, until Spike walked across a room on the upper level of the ship.  Poking his head around the corner of the doorway, signs of life appeared in the usually empty room.  Jenni stood in the center, punching, kicking, and dodging an invisible opponent.  Spike watched her carefully, each flying movement increasing in speed, power, and accuracy.  He recognized a few of them as moves he himself had dutifully mastered and applied, only with a few stylistic differences.  "You into Bruce Lee?" Spike asked in hopes of getting her attention.

Jenni calmly paused with her leg held up in the air next to her and replied, "Are you nuts?!  Jeet Kune Do is the most effective fighting style out there, mainly because of its total disregard for fixation; it's all instinct."

Her answer caused Spike to grin.  A girl after his own heart.  He noticed that a lock of hair had fallen from its loose hold on the back of Jenni's head and into her resolute face.  Spike reached a hand forward to place it behind her ear, but soon found himself facing the ground with Jenni holding his arm out and leaning on his elbow.  Looking up at her, he said, "You've got some smooth moves," as he slid his foot behind her legs and kicked forward.  Just before she would have landed on her back, Spike stuck the same foot out behind her, which held her up inches from the ground between her shoulder blades.  (A/N:  If you're having trouble seeing this, just think _Bulletproof Monk_)

"What do you want?" Jenni asked, a hint of annoyance at being disturbed in her voice.

Spike, who was still grinning at her, said, "Now that you mention it, New Year's is this Saturday.  I know this exclusive little jazz club on Mars, so how does you and me celebrating there sound?"

Although Jenni would usually take this opportunity to cause some severe damage to her offender, there was something in his manner of asking her that she found strangely alluring.  Jenni took the hand Spike had offered to help her up.  "Saturday sounds great."

Silently rejoicing at her decision, Spike lifted Jenni to a standing position as he said, "I can't wait."

CBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCB

The next three days dragged by with little to no activity.  As Friday melted into Saturday, however, time flew past them at an alarming rate, as it tends to do whenever it's needed most.

Jet wandered the vast corridors of the _BeBop_, as he always did when his bonsai didn't need pruning and his thoughts were in desperate need of collecting.  Once again, he was feeling drastically under-appreciated by his colleagues.  He offered them a place to stay, rent-free, and what little food he had, and what do they do?  Take off for days at a time, show up later on blown to bits, and expect him to clean up after them.  Ein showed him more respect than those vagrants he called his partners.  Jet recalled his stable, predictable life before teaming up with the human mystery, Spike Spiegel.  Besides, there wasn't really a bond between them . . . 

That's when Jet regretted his self-pitying thoughts.  No matter how much he tried to deny it, there _was _a bond between them.  It wasn't expressed or visible, but both men knew it was there.  Spike still felt betrayed by his last comrade, and Jet respected his feelings of doubt; he knew all too well where Spike was coming from.  If he had to symbolize it, Jet would say he was like a big dog, beaten and broken, which had found solace in a lone wolf much like himself.  Together, they fashioned a pack along with other misfits who were worn and weathered by the world's cruelty.  Yeah, that's it –

A loud crash emitted from the room he had just passed, along with a chain of angry curses.  Jet stuck his head in the door, eyes meeting an estranged sight.  Ed was flopping and jumping around wearing something that looked remarkably like a black Spike-sized sweater while Spike sat on his bed in black trousers and boots alone and scowled at the wild child, taking drag after angry drag from his cigarette.  The sight would have been extremely amusing if Jet didn't know all too well how capable Spike was of cold murder.  "Ed, what're you doing?"

Smiling her sunny smile at him, Ed said, "Edward is helping Spike-person get ready!"  She began running around the room, promptly tripping on one of Spike's extremely long sleeves and propelling into a wall.  Edward hastily discarded the exceptionally large sweater and put her arms out to the side, 'flying' out of the tiny room.

Spike waited until he was sure Ed was out of hearing range before releasing a smoke-filled sigh of relief and a pleased, "Finally, she's gone."  He picked up a black t-shirt from the floor that had been caught in the small humanoid typhoon's whirlwind and dusted it off before throwing it over his head and letting it fall over his bare chest.  Pausing before doing the same with the sweater, Spike asked his partner, "Need something, Jet?"

The older man gave Spike a quizzical glance and said, "Just wondering what Ed was 'helping' you get ready for."  He stooped to pick up a tipped ashtray next to his feet; definitely Ed's handiwork.

Grinning, Spike pulled the rest of the sweater down and said smugly, "I've got a date."

Jet didn't doubt it, but the answer surprised him all the same.  Surprise turned to cynicism as Jet smirked at his friend and said, "This is unusual.  You're always the one who stays on the _BeBop _every New Years and drinks himself into oblivion."

"That may be," Spike replied.  "But not this year."  Whistling an upbeat, jazzy tune as he draped his old trench coat over one shoulder, Spike stopped long enough to inform Jet of his expected return time.  "Don't expect us back until late.  And _please_," he stressed, "don't seal the hangar this time."  Spike resumed his whistling as he walked out the small, circular door.

However, his exit was delayed by an outburst from his partner.  "Whaaa?!  You don't mean you're bringing her back- back here, do you?!"

An arched eyebrow met Jet.  "Yeah.  What, is there something wrong with that?" Spike asked, covering his slip-up.  Good thing Jet had taken it the other way, otherwise their cover would have been blown.  Although it wouldn't make much difference in the end, both Spike and Jenni had agreed to keep their tryst with each other hidden from the rest of the crew.  Their reasoning simply remained at the fact that tensions would remain few and far between all of them. 

"Not really," said Jet as he folded his arms across his chest.  "Just don't 'disturb' the rest of us, alright?"

"Understood, pard."

Once again, Spike's exit was hindered by another question from Jet, only this one not as harsh.  "So, what's this Wonder Woman of yours like?" he asked in a gentle yet solid tone.

A distant, almost dreamy look crossed Spike's face.  "She's amazing.  And very beautiful.  Dangerously beautiful, like an angel from hell or something.  Y'know?"  He picked up his whistling and finally left the small room for the night.

_So this is it, huh?  _Some little voice inside Spike's head said in approval.  _Instead of being a drunken burden to everyone, you're actually going on a date.  _The thought brought a smile to his face; a once foreign expression that had been making numerous appearances over the past few months.

Another voice pushed into his head, contradicting his sardonically pleasant thoughts.  _Remember what happened last time?  She killed you!  Don't get yourself annihilated by another woman!  They're all liars!  You should know that by now!!_

_Not all women_, he argued back.

This inner battle tormented Spike until he reached the entrance to the hangar, fighting off this persistent feeling of cold feet.  Leaning his shoulder against the cold metal wall, Spike slipped a cigarette from his pocket and twirled it between his long fingers while pondering what tonight would be.  He wouldn't get close to another woman again.  This was just something to do on a night like this, he tried convincing himself.   She'd be kept distant, just like everyone else he'd ever met.  

Those inner vows, however, were shoved to the back of his mind as footsteps emerged from somewhere behind him.  "What're you all dressed up for, cowboy?" a smooth female voice asked.  Spike closed his eyes and felt the corners of his mouth twitching upwards.  He turned his head sideways to see Jenni emerge, and his breath caught in his lungs.  The black ensemble she wore was simple, but Spike thought she appeared to be a goddess.  

Mentally smacking himself for his fantasy of sorts, the bounty hunter turned to face her fully.  "I really should be asking you."__

Simply shrugging, she said, "New Years date.  Not too sure about this guy, though."  Faye passed by at that particular moment, feigning deafness.  Jenni winked at Spike, then asked him, "D'you think I could bum a lift to Mars?"

"I don't see why not."  As he turned to lead her out to his ship, he said with a smirk, "I could use some civilized company before meeting up with this woman."

Jet and Faye watched their colleagues leave together, each for what they thought to be two separate rendezvous.  Adoringly, Faye said, "Jenni looks stunning.  The guy she's meeting is going to be in for a pleasant surprise, don't you think?"

Shaking his head, a sigh escaped Jet and he said, "I just hope the girl Spike's meeting on Mars has some idea of what she's getting herself into."

Faye seemed to ponder something for a minute or two before speaking.  "I'm pretty sure Jenni said she's expected on Mars . . . and she met this guy there . . . Where did Spike pick her up for her bounty again?"

"Mars," Jet said while walking off in the opposite direction.  Finally, something clicked in his brain.  "You don't think . . ."  

Popping up out of nowhere, Ed shrilly yelled, "Ed thinks so!"  The two adults glimpsed at the kid, looking for an explanation.  "Spike-person was playing with _Swordfish II_ when Jen-Jen came out to visit him!"  Rolling backwards onto her hands, Ed continued.  "Edward was sleeping in the hangar until they started talking.  So then Ed went to tell them to be quiet, and-"  She stood up and turned so her back was to them before running her hands up and down her back.  "They were all kissy kissy mwwwwaaa!!!  

He and Faye stared at each other momentarily, eyes wide with wonder.  As if on cue, both of them tore off in search of a communication system, Jet being the triumphant one.  "Aha!" he yelled before pounding in Spike's number.

At the same time, on the _Swordfish II_, Jenni asked Spike, "You don't think they expect anything, do you?"  Instead of the worry Spike expected to hear with this question, there was a certain thrilled, excited tone in her voice.

"Why should they?  After all, we told them the truth," he said while entering the starship from the landing deck.  "Just not all of it."  

Almost immediately, the image of an angry-looking Jet and a cross Faye filled the communications screen.  "Spike!  You slug, the least you could do is –"

He was cut off as Faye stole the little box from Jet's hand.  "Come on, Jenni!  You've got to be kidding me; what in the world do you see in that lunkhead?!"

Already hunched forward in preparation for takeoff, Spike wordlessly cut the connection between him and his comrades.  

That's all for now!!!!  


End file.
